


Night Watch

by FlightsofFancy32



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Dragon Ball Z Collection of Tales, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 14:24:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10618788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlightsofFancy32/pseuds/FlightsofFancy32
Summary: A quiet night on a spaceship with the Z gang, sometime after escaping the destruction of Earth. Slight B/V.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note: This is the first short story in what will probably be a slew of different scenario snippets. Personally, I hate to read those kinds of stories, but I need a place for extra plot bunnies, so :) Anyway, don't expect much in the way of story continuity. Some stories will be fill-in-the-canon blanks, some will be totally AU, some will be character exploration, others world building. I have so many ideas for DBZ, I need to narrow them down! If anyone reads a story they'd be interested in reading an expansion of, please let me know.

The quiet dark hours of the middle of the night found everyone bunked down camp-style in the middle of the rec area. Oolong leaned back against the comm board, surveying the ragtag group from Earth.

They looked like refugees, and they were. They were the intergalactic homeless, wandering the universe in a spaceship meant for research and travel, not for accommodating dozens of people and families indefinitely.

Next to Oolong, Chichi and Yajirobi were sorting through some kind of schematically detailed paperwork that exhausted Oolong just looking at it. Nightwatch was the worst. Its duties included scanning their flight path for potential causes of detour and listening to the main broadband comm channel for local updates. A necessary, but boring job.

Oolong harrumphed at the sight of Gohan snoring comfortably next to Turtle, curled under a thin blanket on the ground. The teen's mouth hung open, slack and unabashed, as he snoozed away. Lucky snot.

Feeling the back of his neck prickle, Oolong glanced around and stiffened when he caught Piccolo's eye. The Namekian's cross-legged pose against the base of the wall hadn't budged in hours, except for the occasional antenna twitch as their group settled in for the night. Now, one of his eyes cracked open slightly to glare at Oolong.

For an ex-sworn enemy, Piccolo could be weirdly protective of Gohan. Also, since Piccolo didn't sleep anyway, couldn't he just take over Oolong's spot? Then maybe he could get some shut-eye…

"Quit feeling sorry for yourself," Chichi scolded without looking up from the navigational printouts.

Oolong grumbled under his breath, but kept his thoughts to himself as Piccolo stood up and crossed over to the group by the comm link and radio.

Yajirobe yawned widely and adjusted his headphones, presumably to better hear the white static nothingness that was the radiowaves.

Chichi shot a sullen look at Piccolo as he approached, but scooted over and made room for him at the counter. Piccolo ignored the last stool and stood with his arms crossed as he frowned around the room.

Oolong followed his gaze. To Gohan first, of course, and onto Trunks and Goten who were piled together like a small litter of half-Saiyan puppies, then to Yamcha and Puar sleeping in rumpled bags in the corner. Roshi, Launch, Chiatzou and Tien were close by; Krillin and that scary Android 18 shared a floor mattress with their daughter, Marron. There were only two mattresses on the whole damn ship. When 18 had claimed the sleep comfort for herself and her family, no one dared fight her for it.

The second mattress held Bulma. The heiress's body sprawled out diagonally, taking up the whole damn thing in a twist of blankets.

That only left…

With a hiss, the rec doors slid open, revealing Goku and Vegeta.

Oolong checked their mostly useless Earth clock. Three in the morning and these idiots were just coming in from training-but clean from the showers it seemed. No small thing to be thankful for when one finds themself trapped in a room with multiple sweaty Saiyans for hours at a time.

Chichi turned her nose up and away from her husband and hunched over the counter more fully.

Sharing such a small space meant pretty much no privacy and fewer secrets. A not so shocking revelation? Chichi was not a fan of super late night trainings.

Oolong rolled his eyes when Goku waved over at the watch group enthusiastically, like he didn't recognize Chichi's cold shoulder at all. Maybe he didn't. With exaggerated movements like some goofy burglar in a cartoon, Goku tiptoed his way around the sleepers on the floor and plopped on the last stool with a wide grin. Piccolo grunted a greeting.

"Hi, you guys!" Goku's unsubtle stage whisper held way too much cheer for the dead of night. "How's it going?"

"Fantastic," Yajirobe drawled. "Wanna take over?"

Goku held up his hands. "Oh no! I'm beat, I think I'm gonna go to bed." He turned guileless eyes on Chichi. "Unless you want me to spot you, Chichi. You look awfully tired."

The tight line of Chichi's mouth relaxed, though her brows still pulled down seriously. She flicked a look at Goku. "No Goku, my shift's nearly over. You go ahead and sleep." She faced him fully. "But for the love of all that is holy, don't wake the kids."

"Yeah, seriously," Oolong spoke up. "You know how precious this quiet is?"

Goku smiled, eyes crinkling in the corners. "It's kind of neat, isn't it? Having all of our friends and family here together."

The group at the comm counter looked out over the sleeping crowd again.

Chichi snorted. "Like sardines in a tin."

Goku's stomach gurgled in reply.

"Oh, Goku."

"I know, I know. Gotta wait for breakfast. It's just, I worked up such an appetite…"

Chichi's frown set in again even as she pushed over the snack bag the watch group had been sharing. Yajirobe whined and grabbed for it, but moved too slowly. Goku emptied the rest of the bag in his mouth in practically one go. "Mmm. Thanks for that!"

"We were rationing that out until morning," Oolong complained.

"Sorry. Boy, I'm starving."

"Well, sleep it off for now." Chichi straightened her work area. "You wouldn't be so hungry if you didn't insist on training with Vegeta at all hours of the day and night."

"Aww, we just lost track of time, that's all." Goku said, turning his head towards the other Saiyan.

Vegeta was staring down with a concentrated frown at Bulma's form, starfishing over the whole sleep area.

Goku, Chichi, Piccolo, Yajirobe, and Oolong watched with varying degrees of surprise and amusement as Vegeta leaned down and grabbed Bulma's ankle and yanked her over to one side of the mattress. He grabbed her wrist and flopped it over to her side as well. Then he bedded down with practical movements, pulling the entire blanket off of his wife and over himself in the process.

Bulma squirmed and woke up slightly. Instead of getting loud and mad as expected, her expression warmed and she scooted back under the blanket, curling herself around Vegeta and hugging him like he was some kind of snuggly person, as opposed to an actual psychotic mass-murdering alien.

The pair settled in sleep. Yajirobe broke the silence, muttering: "What the hell did I just see?"

Chichi shook her head. "Marriage."

"Wah? They sleep in the same place though?" Yajirobe scratched his ear.

"Apparently."

"Huh. It's not like it's something I spend time thinking about-" the samurai continued over Piccolo's put upon sigh. "But I guess I just assumed it wasn't like that. Just thinking about sleeping next to either of them...I mean, who'd want to?"

Even Piccolo and Chichi crack grins at that.


End file.
